Busy Busy

This week and next week are looking very busy. Tuesday night we had dinner over at Chris and Dan's (the ex-nun, ex-priest founders of Loaves and Fishes). That was a fun night, the JVs were there along with other volunteers our age from Loaves and Fishes. Yesterday, we had Sister Libby and Dorothy over for dinner which was also a fun night. Tomorrow, we have to go speak at some dinner for people who will hopefully donate money to Loaves and Fishes. Saturday, the JVs have their famous Christmas party and then Sunday, we have some concert during the day and then dinner with Sister Bridget. Next week, there's a party at transitional with New Start 1 & 2. We're going to have games, prizes and karaoke! I'm going to make some of Stephanie's sugar cookies and decorate them at New Start for the party. It should be a blast. After all this busy-ness, I'm going home! I don't anticipate a very relaxing vacation while I'm home but I'm very excited to see my family and friends, it's been 5 months!

Mouse!

So that nice little mouse that we caught behind the paper shredder and let free down the street came back. This time, it made a home in the copier machine. I copied a letter for someone and it came out on a half eaten sheet of paper. I opened the drawer to check out the situation and when I took the paper out, I could see the body of what I thought was a dead mouse. Manny happened to call at this point and I told him it was in there but that I wouldn't get it out. He called someone and had them come get it and when they lifted the part it was trapped under, it ran away! I'm finding that mice apparently don't die easily and I'll continue to have near heart attacks when they start moving. I'm just going to have to start assuming they're alive and until proven otherwise.

Fangs

Yesterday, someone came in the office to do an intake and had fake gold teeth, a grill if you will. The front top teeth were all gold which was creepy enough but the two teeth on either end, where normal incisors are, are fangs. They extend much further down than normal teeth should so he looks like a gold toothed vampire...quite creepy.

Softball

This weekend we had another softball game with New Start. It was New Start 1 vs. New Start 2 and I played for 1, who ended up winning (clearly because I was on that team:)) Although it was a little rough in the beginning, everyone eventually relaxed and ended up having a great time. The game was close for most of it so there was some good spirited competition and then afterwards, some people had a cook out (even though it was a little cold). Overall it was a fun day!

Christmas Spirit

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, it's time to get in the Christmas spirit. Meghan and I put up some lights today as well as our fake Christmas tree. I wrapped the door in a red table cloth and put some ribbon on it and we're going to make some snowflakes later to decorate inside (keep in mind we are on a budget hence the homemade decorations). We have Christmas music playing now and will until we go home in just over three weeks! Here are some pictures of our apartment.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Today was quite the day. It was my first year away from home for Thanksgiving so it was a little sad but I still really enjoyed myself. This morning, Meghan and I went to the Run for Hunger in Sacramento. I did the 10K which was a great way to start the day off. I didn't feel quite so guilty eating so much. When we got home, we started cooking! We had decided to make our own Thanksgiving meal and invited Dana, her sister, friend, Andrew, and Mike over. Neither Meghan or I had ever cooked our own Thanksgiving meal but we were all ready for the task.

Meghan made a grasshopper pie while I peeled potatoes for mashed potatoes. I got the turkey going in the oven and made some squash. Butternut squash is my favorite but they didn't have it in the store so I ended up with carnival squash. It wasn't quite as good but it worked out. I also made my dad's famous biscuits. I had never made those before but they came out pretty well, although not as good as when my dad makes them. Around 5:30, our feast began. We had delicious turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, squash, corn, green beans, biscuits and stuffing. Then we had apple pie, chocolate strawberries, and grasshopper pie for dessert. It was a lot of fun having everyone over and having successfully made our first Thanksgiving feast. It was an acceptable second best to being home.

SOA

This past weekend, I went down to Georgia to protest the School of the Americas. Up until Sister Maria invited us to attend, I had never heard of it before so I did some research. I learned that individuals from Central and Southern America trained by the SOA have been responsible for many acts of human rights violations. We left bright and early on Friday morning and arrived around 4 PM for some teachings about the SOA. Some of the other Mercy Volunteers who we had met during orientation were also there so it was really good to see them. Saturday we attended some talks in the morning and then went over to the gates of Fort Benning later on in the afternoon. Saturday night, we attended a mass with everyone who was there which was really nice.

Sunday morning was the main part of the weekend. 25,000 people gathered outside the gates of Fort Benning to stand for a few hours and then we began a slow procession. All 25,000 people walked up to the gates and put a cross up on the fences in memory of someone who had died as a result of the SOA. All the names were read out of those who had lost their lives and the entire procession took over two hours. It was very moving, especially when those who had died could not be identified by name or age but were simply identified as "child." Overall, it was a very interesting and eye opening weekend and I'm glad I could be a part of it.

Game Night

Last weekend, we had a party/game night at our house. We invited one of the JVCs houses and a few other people and played Apples to Apples. It was a lot of fun, it was nice to have a kind of relaxed night where we didn't have to get all ready to go out and we could all just hang out. We decided we're going to have game nights more often.

The Car Wrapping

It was Andrew's birthday last week (the old MVC) so Meghan, Dana, Erik and I decided it would be a good idea to do something special for him. We wrapped his car in saran wrap! We got it from the dining room at Loaves and Fishes and then we added on some stuff that was in Dana's car. There's a picture of the final result below...I'm just a little nervous for what may happen on my birthday.

Pumpkin Carving!

Tonight Meghan and I carved some pumpkins! It was great, the pumpkins smelled delicious, we roasted some seeds and our jack-o-lanterns are great. Mine is pictured above, it has hair and everything and below, mine and Meghan's are on the front porch. Here are some other pictures I've recently uploaded from my past adventures so you can all catch up!

Halloween Weekend!

This past weekend, Meghan and I ventured down to San Francisco again. The initial reason was because Brian was visiting some friends there and I was going to meet him for dinner. It just so happened that the JVC house in San Jose was having a Halloween party on Saturday night so it worked out really well. Friday night I met Brian at the BART and we took it into the Mission for dinner at a place called Range. It was a restaurant that he liked to go to when he was still living in San Fran and I provided an excuse for him to go again. It was really nice to see him-I miss having family around a little-and the food was delicious!

Saturday I spent the day poking around San Francisco. Meghan, Mike and Mike's two roommates and I walked a lot around the city just exploring. We climbed some big hills and got nice views of the city. Saturday night we headed down to San Jose, all dressed up as pirates! It was a fun night, good to meet some other JVs and just hang out. We came back this afternoon so we'd have some time to get ourselves together. It will be an early night as we didn't get much sleep this weekend.

Here's a shout out to the Sox too! The series is looking good, although it would be a little more exciting if the game right now was closer but GO SOX!

The Benefit!

So after weeks and weeks of planning, calling radio stations, picking up donations and the like, the benefit has come and gone...and successfully! There were about 400 people there altogether and everyone had a great time. The benefit is really a time for Clean and Sober to raise some money by having a dinner with a silent auction and raffle. It's great for the residents because it gives them the opportunity to "shine." Tuesday, we went shopping with some of the residents so they could find outfits for the big night. Everyone gets all dressed up so they look wonderful, feel wonderful and have a great time. It was really nice to see everything come together after having worked on it for a while now. A few people made speeches about their stories and how far they have come but my favorite part was the count down they did at the end. My boss started calling people up by the amount of clean time they had so starting at 12 years and going all the way down to 1 day. It was really great to see everyone up on the stage together forming such a strong community. All the work that went into the Benefit was definitely worth it.

Apple Crumb Pie

So I kind of forgot about my blog recently so here's a quick update. I got married but don't wear my ring to work, Meghan got a mouse in a bar, and I made 12 apple crumb pies within the last two days. Okay, so only two of those are true. I didn't really get married but Manny started that rumor so people would leave me alone at work-not that anyone was really bothering me too much.

Meghan did get a mouse in a bar the other night however and I did make 12 apple crumb pies in the past two days. We went to this place called the fox and the goose and Meghan sat at this table where there was this computer mouse. She kind of looked at it funny and picked it up when the guy next to her was like, "oh yea, I brought that out in case anyone wanted it." Kind of odd, but we thought it was a clever way to pick people up so we may be trying it one of these nights.

As for the pies, we went to Apple Hills this past weekend and went apple picking. It was a lot of fun, there are a bunch of different orchards all in one area so we picked apples and had some apple donuts. Later that day, I was at New Start picking up a basket of food and mentioned making some apple pies so they loaded me up with 13 bags of apples and then told everyone that I was making them pies. I said I would not make them pies but would come over and make pies with them so that's what I did. I was at New Start II yesterday and New Start I today and made a total of 12 apple crumb pies. They got very good reviews but the sad part is, I didn't try any! I will definitely be making some more this weekend however so I can try some of my dad's famous recipe!

Costochondritis (the end of catch up)

So as my ankle was starting to feel better, I reduced my intake of advil and my chest started to hurt. It was just the right side and I had noticed it bothering me a little but without advil, it was killing me. Monday night, I barely got any sleep because it was hurting so badly so I decided I'd go get it checked out at the doctors. I have Kaiser insurance out here which after going to for my ankle, I had decided that I would go there as little as possible but of course, I had to go back almost right away. I managed to get an appointment for Tuesday after convincing the nurse that I was OK and not having a heart attack. After poking around a little bit, the doctor diagnosed me with costochondritis which is a swelling of the cartilage that connects my ribs to the sternum. There's no real cause, although sometimes it is linked to a virus so there wasn't too much the doctor could do except give me some extra strength pain killers. It certainly feels better with the drugs and I slept a little better last night. It's a very interesting thing though-if anyone has unexplained chest pain, you too could have costochondritis!

Hiking (the middle of catch up)

On Sunday, Meghan and I went with Sister Libby up to the foothills to do some hiking. It was absolutely beautiful with all the leaves changing (although nothing compared to home). It was really more of a walking path rather than hiking which was good for my ankle, I don't think it could have handled too much rough terrain. We had a nice picnic by a little stream and it reminded me of the path that is at the end of the street at home. I was thinking about how Stephanie used to take us all down there and we'd hang out by the stream, making little boats and floating them around. It was a fun day.

Also, a belated Happy Birthday to Mom and Kevin-who is finally 21! I'm excited to go out at Christmas with all the siblings!

The move (the beginning of my catch up)

So New Start II is almost completely moved. Last Wednesday-Friday the bulk of the move was really done and I spent a lot of time driving people and their stuff around, building beds and going to the dump. Luckily, no one had their bed fall which was great because I would have gotten the blame and when driving Manny's truck, I managed to only drive over 5 nails! (This wasn't really my doing but I have gotten the blame, oh well). The flat tire was an improvement from the last time I drove his truck as I backed into a cement barricade at the dump (but I didn't really do any damage then either so it was okay). Everyone has all of their stuff over at the new place and seem to have settled in well. Now people who are on the waiting list will start going in which is very exciting for me because since I've started, there haven't really been any new people.

Mice!

Today at work, I went into Manny's office to do some stuff on the computer. I happen to glance over at the mouse trap and low and behold, we had a mouse! I went to get a paper towel and bag so I could take him out but when I went back and moved the trash can, he moved! I just about had a heart attack and ran out into the hall meeting Erik who asked what was wrong with me. Lance came in and took care of the mouse but my heart is still beating a little faster even an hour after it happened.

Jubilee Day

Saturday was Jubilee Day. The Sisters of Mercy had a mass and then the unveiling of a statue in Capitol Park-a huge deal seeing as how it is a religious statue on government property. It's there to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Sisters of Mercy. Saturday night Meghan and I went with the JVs to get frozen yogurt at this place called Big Spoon. The place is sweet, you can make your own ice creams and then they just charge you by weight. Afterwards, we went to their house and watched Animal House (the first time I had ever seen the whole thing:0)

Sunday was a relaxing day. I got some stuff done around the house and finished reading Fried Green Tomatos. I was excited when I found it in the library a few weeks ago because I love the movie and I enjoyed the book just as much. I got a few new books at the library yesterday as well. It's nice having time to read for pleasure rather than just school-it's a new thing for me and I'm enjoying the time.

Sprain:(

So I went to the doctor's this morning to get my ankle checked out. On Wednesday, I tripped and landed on it funny and then when I was running on Friday, I stepped off the curb funny and felt something pop. There was no break or any fractures but I do have a nice sprain which is unfortunate. Not only am I walking around funny with it all wrapped up (no crutches for me at least), but now I can't run until it's better and I just started a challenge on Nike.com with Stephanie. Don't worry though Stephanie, I'll catch up, it'll just be a late start.

Our Talk...and my new shoes!

Our talk at Mercy High School went pretty well. We spoke for about 40 minutes and then answered a bunch of questions. We got some interest going for Mercy Volunteer Corps and it was a good experience. Last night we went and saw the movie Once which was very interesting and has a great sound track. I recommend it although I don't know how much longer it will be in theaters. Afterwards, we went out to a few bars in Oakland which was cool. Oakland is much busier compared to Sacramento and it was fun to see a new city and hang out with Mike and his roommates Julie and Rachel.
On our way back (which took forever because traffic was so bad) we stopped at the Vacaville outlets and I finally got some new running shoes. I needed new shoes really badly because mine are about 2 years old and my legs have really started to bother me. I have had a new pair in between my old ones but didn't bring them out here with me (I had pretty much run them into the ground). Anyway, because you're only supposed to put 300-400 miles on a pair of shoes and I've run about 350 just since Easter, I decided it was definitely time for new shoes. I spent a lot of time looking for some and finally found ones I liked today...and the best part was they were only $32!

Catch Up

I realized I hadn't written in a bit so I decided I'd get right on that. This past weekend was nice. Meghan went to visit her boyfriend down in Oakland and I decided to stay home and hang out. I caught up on all the Real World's online and Friday night hung out with the JVs. We went to a bar/restaurant for a bit but mostly just hung out at their house. Saturday was great. I woke up around 11 and went for a run then got back home, showered, put on sweats and stayed in them all day. I had planned on getting a lot of reading done but ended up taking a nice nap instead. Then I watched City of Angels for my first time. It was a good movie and I can't believe I hadn't seen it before.

Sunday we went up to Auburn, CA to the mother house for Mercy Day. The house is really nice and very large. It was a good day, there was a mass and then a lunch afterwards. Monday and Tuesday have been relatively uneventful. I went to a fair on Tuesday and Wednesday for Clean and Sober where I hang out and pass out information at work places in the hopes of raising funds for Clean and Sober. Tonight, Meghan and I are driving down to Oakland for the night and then to Santa Clara tomorrow morning to speak at a school about Mercy Volunteer Corps. It should be quite the experience speaking to an entire senior class of girls. We'll see soon enough.

Larry King Live!

Today a guy named Larry King came into the office. He's an old veteran who is homeless and comes in every once in a while to get some food or other things he needs. He has a very touching story and has even been written about in the paper out here. He sustained some injuries from the war and isn't quite all there. He gets around $1,000 a month for having been in the war but gives it all to the home that his wife lives in. He basically chooses to remain homeless so his wife can get the care she needs. He's a very sweet man and it's stories like this that help me get through some of the hardships every day. For example, a 16 year old came in today looking for help so we sent him to a more appropriate program for his age group. This reinforced for me how lucky I have been in life and things like this that happen every day help me realize why I'm here for this year.

Mexican Fiesta!

Wednesday night, we had a bunch of the Sisters of Mercy and some people from work come over for a potluck Mexican dinner. There were about 15 people all together and the food was delicious. I had never eaten a lot of Mexican food before and didn't even know what some things were so it was good exposure for me. I'll gradually be building up a strong liking for Mexican food. Last night, we went over to the JVC house for dinner. They made chicken, mashed potatoes and risotto and we brought salad. It was nice to hang out with them again and very nice of them to invite us and save us from cooking.

Tamale Festival

Today was the Tamale festival at Caesar Chavez Park. It was quite the day. People arrived at 6:30 AM to start setting up and making the tamale. For those from the East Coast who may not know because I sure didn't, a tamale is usually corn husks wrapped around corn meal (masa) with meat and stuff inside. Today, Clean and Sober was in charge of putting together the worlds largest tamale which ended up being 44 feet long! It is now in the Guiness Book of World Records. It was a great day, I had a lot of fun hanging out and getting to know all the residents a little more and I think that everyone had fun working together to accomplish such a great feat.

Governator

This morning I had to get up really early (we're talking 5:30AM) to go to the United Way kick off breakfast. Clean and Sober sets up a booth where we hand out pamphlets and try to get our name out there and raise some money. (Clean and Sober does not accept any government funding so all the money they get is from donations and fundraisers). I wasn't too upset about this breakfast because they were giving us food and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was supposed to be there. After standing at our table for almost 2 hours, we went into the other room for breakfast where we found out that the Governor would not be there in person but "live" on satellite (or something like that). It was a huge let down. Not only did I wake up before the sun was up but the governor wasn't going to be there, and to top it off, the food wasn't good. I ended up eating a mini blueberry muffin and then some Life cereal when I got home. So disappointing.

Side note: This picture was the closest thing I could get of Flat Katherine and the Governor. There are some more pictures of Flat Katherine and the adventures she has had here.

A little chubby

So in the office that I work in, they have AA and NA meetings daily at 10AM. Most days, this guy comes in who is about 5 feet 7 inches and maybe about 300 lbs...not exactly on the small size. Anyway, the meeting room tends to get a little warm with all the people in there so we usually turn the air up but yesterday, we forgot. Part way into the meeting the guy comes out to me and says, "could you turn the air up a little, it's a little warm and I'm a 'little chubby.'" It had me laughing for a while, he's a pretty funny guy and clearly very comfortable with himself.

chicken noodle soup

So my boss Manny broke his tooth and as a result had been living mostly on Jamba juice and soup. Today for lunch, he brought a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup with the intention of eating it while on-the-go. He cracked open the can and was about to drink it when I said, "isn't that the kind you're supposed to add water to?" to which he replied, "I don't know, is it?" After dumping out some of the broth and drinking the noodles, he found that it was indeed the kind you should add water to. For everyone who is wondering, you shouldn't try the soup without adding water, it is disgusting (not that I tried it but I'll take Manny's word for it). This little lunch episode resulted in an immediate trip to Jamba Juice.

Weekend update

This weekend was pretty fun. Friday night, Meg and I went out with the intentions of checking out a jazz club but found that there was a cover, so as volunteers, we decided to search out the free place. We ended up at Hamburger Pattie which is more of a diner but there was karaoke which was very entertaining to watch. Saturday we ran lots of errands and went to Second Saturday at night. There was also a block party and we met up with some of the JVCs. After all the galleries were closed, we went to the JV house for a little bit then I went out to the Streets of London (our favorite pub). It was nice to hang out a little more with the JVCs and get to know them a little better.

Sunday we had planned on going to the beach so after I went to church, we headed out. I got directions of the website for beaches in CA so I thought we were all set. It should have been a two hour drive down towards San Francisco but it ended up being about 4 1/2 by the time all was said and done. The directions took us down this wicked curvy road that was on the edge of a mountain and was up and down. To add to the fun of the drive, we were low on gas towards the end and thought that on one up hill trip, our car would just stop. Luckily, we made it out of the mountains and ended up at a different beach than planned. Had we known better, we could have done the trip down in less than 2 hours-this we'll know for next time. Instead, we ended up driving a total of 6 1/2 hours over the whole day and spending only 3 at the beach. Oh well, I guess it will prolong the onset of skin cancer that much longer.

San Francisco

We had quite the weekend. On Saturday morning, we went to Gold Rush days which was a lot of fun. There's a part of Sacramento called "Old Sac" where Gold Rush days are held and they had dumped dirt all over the roads (which are lower here than the rest of the city) and then there were horses and lots of old fashioned stands set up. There was also a reenactment of the landing of the Mercy Sisters (the group that as a Mercy Volunteer I am now associated with). The Mercy Sisters played a huge roll in the development of Sacramento and they've been around for over 150 years. The whole morning was very exciting.

Afterwards, Meghan and I went home to pack up for San Francisco. We left and got down there in about 2 hours. It was a little difficult as the Bay Bridge was closed but we went over the Golden Gate which was more exciting as I am a fan of the show Full House. We went to Angela's house and then after meeting up with Mike (Meghan's bf), we went out to dinner. Angela's mom was nice enough to treat us which for us poor volunteers is a huge deal. The dinner was delicious and we then set off to go out in North Beach for the night. Angela drove in and parked her car and we then went to a few bars, ending up at Fiddler's which was a lot of fun. We got a cab back and then Sunday, after breakfast/lunch, Angela and I went to pick up her car. This is where it gets interesting. Her car wasn't there anymore! She called impound lots to find it but it hadn't been towed so ultimately, she had to file a stolen vehicle report. It was very sad-it seems that things like this aren't supposed to happen to people you know.

By the time all was said and done, we returned to Angela's house for a little bit then went out again with her Mom-who was again nice enough to take me out (Meghan and Mike were at her friends house) . We went to Tres Agaves and then to the Philly Club (Philosophers though not Philadelphia). Monday, Meghan and Mike returned and we went to Crissy Field for a cookout with Angela and her brother and his friends. Overall it was a good weekend-minus the stolen car bit. Here are some pictures.

Legos

So last night, Meghan cut my hair and when I looked in the mirror, the first word that came to mind was "legos." Haha, it wasn't really that bad, just a little choppy. I "feathered" it a little so now it's a little smoother it was just funny at first. This morning, we're on our way to Gold Rush days where a bunch of people dress up and act out the gold rush. It should be fun. Afterwards, we're heading to San Francisco where I'll see Angela! and we'll see some of Meg's friends for a bbq-we're really excited for our first real adventure outside of Sacramento!

Words will never hurt me...

Today was an interesting day where I of course encountered many unexpected things. I went to the meeting at New Start 2 this morning and really enjoyed it. Last week, all the people were told as homework to do something nice for someone else and not tell them about it. The basic idea is that a giver will get over addiction whereas a taker will not. This morning, everyone discussed what they had done and it was really nice and touching to hear some of the things. I had chills after a few of them.
After the meeting, I went to the new property and then returned back to the office. At the end of the day, I headed off to the car to go home. I encountered a man on a bike who was clearly not quite with it and was yelling at me. I will not quote him because he was rather offensive but it got me thinking a little bit. Had someone else said the same things to me, I might have been a little offended but in this situation, I just walked a little faster and broke out laughing when I got in the car. Insults don't carry the same sting when it tends to be just a part of the everyday interactions of some people. This morning, I was in Friendship Park when someone said "skinny ass white girl." This wasn't so much an insult, and could even be taken as a compliment. It just goes to show what you'll hear/see everyday in an environment that most of us aren't accustomed to. Each day brings something different and unexpected but presents an opportunity for growth. I can only imagine what I'll see/hear in the next year if I've already been exposed to so much in just a few weeks.

Phew.

I am now a licensed California driver! I passed the written test with only one wrong. It was very exciting but also sad because they had to punch a hole in my Massachusetts license. It's not quite as cool having a CA drivers license in CA as a MA license.

This Weekend

Lonestar Friday night was a great time, we even saw Mer there (this was all planned). The fair was very impressive. It looked more like a Canobe Lake Park (for those who know it) or a smaller version of Six Flags. It's surprising that it is a temporary fair. We didn't really hang out for too long though, just did the concert and left. We went out to the London Pub again with a bunch of the JVCs which was a lot of fun. It's nice having an extended network of people around the area.
Saturday and Sunday were pretty relaxed. We went through the Capital on Saturday (Meghan's boyfriend Mike was visiting) where we saw Arnold Schwarzenegger's office. Sunday we went and watched a bunch of boats get launched at Discovery Park. We've decided that we need to find friends with a boat so we can go out on the river for the day.
Yesterday we went to get our licenses and got there a little late so we only got the paperwork started, we go back today for the test. Hopefully by the end of the day I'll be a California licensed driver. On another happy note, today some guy told me he would marry me so that puts my mind at ease, I have a fall back. That's all for now, keep your fingers crossed that we pass our driver's test. I'd honestly be a little concerned, after having driven for 5 years if I didn't pass.

First Full Week

So I'm almost done with my first full week of work! It's been pretty good. Yesterday I worked in the office by myself because Tina was out and it wasn't too bad-it was slow for most of the day but I did some intakes by myself. Last night we went to the first Monarchs (WNBA) game and they won! It was very exciting, now hopefully they'll win at least one of the next two games. Meghan and I made flat Katherine and brought her to the game with us and she'll be coming out with us tonight too! She's like our Flat Stanley who will soon be leaving us to visit all the other MVC sites. It'll be funny to see everywhere she ends up-I'll keep everyone updated.
We're going to the California state fair to see Lone Star! We got the tickets for the fair for free and it should be a really good time.

Spanish mass

Last night, Meghan and I went to the 7PM mass at the Cathedral. Because our weekend was rather busy, this was the only mass we could make it to and it happened to all be in Spanish. I was thinking that I'd be ok, I am a Spanish minor and all but apparently those two years of no Spanish made a difference. My new goal is to get some Spanish tapes at the library and brush up on the language. Maybe in a few weeks/months, I'll try Spanish mass again.

My weekend

So my first week finished off nicely. On Friday morning, I went to an Alcoholics Anonymous at New Start 2. Both of the housing areas were there so there was a large number of people. It was very interesting for me, I had never been to a support group meeting and it was good exposure. Friday night we went to a Monarchs game (WNBA) with Dana (my boss) and Andrew (who had my position last year). It was really fun, I had never been to a WNBA game before. Afterwards, Meghan and I walked to the London Pub which is 15ish blocks away from our house. We hung out until 1:30ish (our latest night yet as we're still on Eastern time) and then came back and crashed.

Saturday was a lazy day then Saturday night we went to the Jesuit Volunteer house across town and met the other half of the JVCs. We got back kind of early and got a good night sleep. This morning, I woke up early to get to a baseball game where the residents of Clean and Sober played. I also go to play because they needed 2 females and the females that were there weren't very enthusiastic about playing. It was a lot of fun, we played 2 games and then there was a cookout. It was a tournament where all the teams were made up of AA groups so it was a very interesting experience. After I got home, Meghan and I went biking around Sacramento, did some errands and went to McKinley park. One of our errand was getting library cards so we had some books to read at the park-another very relaxing day. I'm looking forward to my second, and likely busier, week of work.

Bill

So first of all, let me apologize for the multiple entries in one day...I'm a little blog happy as a beginner. Bill is our neighbor and although we have only been here 4 days, we already find him very creepy. The first time we met was when he knocked on our door on Monday. Meghan opened it and said hi to which he responded, "are those your bikes," we said yes and he said "you'd better bring them inside or someone will steal them." It was only after Meghan said, "oh thanks for telling us, I'm Meghan by the way" did he say his name. Not so much an introduction but more of a side note. We have also been told that Bill might try and steal our parking spot-he told the owner (not knowing it was the owner) that it was his spot and that the owner said he could have it. He's very odd.
Today we got home from Ikea around 9:30 to find Bill watering the "plants" in the "front garden." He is a very creepy man. Meghan and I wanted to work on the gardens-just weed them some and cut some stuff back but now we're a little scared to touch them for fear of what Bill might do.

My First Day (and a little bit of yesterday)

Yesterday we went to Mer's house. It was our first adventure driving and it went pretty well. We hung out at Mer's house for a little bit by the pool which was a lot of fun. It was funny to see her out in Sacramento when I'm so used to seeing her at school. After hanging out for a bit, we went to Whole Foods and got Meghan some special food and then we stopped at a dollar store and got some things for our apartment. We both went to bed early so we'd be ready for our first day of work!
We didn't have to go in until 9AM this morning for our orientation. We got the tour of the whole area which is much like a village. There is a small school, a health building, a law office type place, kitchens, women's shelters, and Clean and Sober, where I work, all under the name of Loaves and Fishes.
After touring on site, I took the tour of the two off site housing areas. They're for people who have committed themselves to being clean and sober and have no place to live. It's very affordable and there's a lot of support provided for all the individuals which is great. I will be working mostly in the walk-in office during the day and then around the off site areas towards the end of the day. It will be a very eye opening experience and I'm excited to get going.
Later today we'll be going to IKEA to get some more stuff for our apartment-I'm very excited-hopefully we'll find some great stuff!

The Black Cat

This black cat haunts us. He is always around our house, presumably belonging to our neighbors but last night around 12, we heard what we believe was a cat fight. It was very loud and woke us both up, we even thought that maybe we wouldn't be seeing the black cat anymore. No such luck however. We got back from our adventure of opening a bank account to see him/her sitting on the stairs next door.

Home at last

We finally made it to our new home in Sacramento. We left Gwynedd Mercy College at 5:15 (Paup's was nice enough to drive) and got to the airport and through security in time for our 8AM flight. We got into Sacramento around 1:30 and to our new house around 2:30. It's very cute, it's the first floor of a house. It has 2 bedrooms, a kitchen/dining room and a tv room. There's a front porch and "back yard" as well, although we probably won't get much use out of either. We had a nice welcoming party when we got here, a volunteer from last year was here and there were several sisters here as well. It was very nice!

Meg and I started unpacking for a little bit then decided to go for a bike ride to see the area a little bit. It's really easy to bike around here, although we need to learn a little more about the rules of the road. We stopped by the house of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and introduced ourselves before returning back home to unpack some more. We had a delicious dinner of turkey sandwiches, chips and grapes (ironically what I had for breakfast as well-we have yet to get to the grocery store). I've posted some pictures of our new house (and our car!) so you can all check it out here.

kintera

Today I created a webpage through MVC. There's a little information about what I'm doing and a picture of Meghan and myself! If you'd like to learn a little more about what my upcoming year will bring or make a donation to my cause, click here.

Orientation

It is now Wednesday, the 4th day of orientation for Mercy Volunteer Corps (MVC). So far it's going great, everyone is a little tired but we're getting to know each other and learning a lot about what the upcoming year holds for us. My roommate, Meghan is from the Philadelphia area and seems really cool, I think we will get along very well. We're both very excited about getting to our apartment in Sacramento. The descriptions of the apartment and of what our jobs entail were very vague so we're both interested to see what we will be doing. Tomorrow my boss will be coming to Gwynned Mercy College so hopefully we'll learn more in the upcoming days.